Tag Archives: Intelligence

Intelligence

--Original published at Tiffany'sCollegeBlog

Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. I think that not only does this apply to where we get our intelligence from but who we learn it from. In a school setting, the teacher is above all in the classroom and typically is the one that the kids look up to for guidance, help, questions on the material, etc. Throughout my school career, I definitely have had some troubles with teachers but I’ve also had some really good things happen with teachers. I think personally, what makes a good teacher is the bond and connection they show with each of their students. Can they help in every way possible so that the student gets the best teaching? Do they show a good, positive attitude that makes the students want to come back for another day of school? This alone makes or breaks a classroom setting and even a school itself. I mean admit it, we all have schools that we “know” not to send our child there because they are rated low or you know the story behind the school. Not only does this effect one kid, but if you have multiple kids it could be even worse. 

I’ve dealt with this a lot throughout school, even in elementary school. Middle school was okay, but I still had issues with a few teachers. A few teachers in particular were my homeroom teachers for 7th and 8th grade. I had homeroom teachers and then I would have them for class and in middle school, they made it a huge deal to NOT go to your lockers in-between classes and so you’d have to ask the teacher or do it when they weren’t looking. I remember a time where that happened and my homeroom teacher literally threw me away from my locker and said go to class. We also had a folder for reading, which is what my homeroom teacher taught, and god forbid if we didn’t take this folder to class, she would have a conniption fight. This folder had all our resources in it and she would have pop quizzes and it was worth like 15 points. Not every experience was good but the sooner I could leave 7th grade, I turned around and had the same issue in 8th grade, where my homeroom teacher was just so strict. I think not being around those teachers all the time helped. Then in high school, I really took over my education. I was the one that made decisions on what would happen and how I was going to make it through the 4 years. I specifically remember the science teachers being really bad, especially my physics and chemistry teachers. My physics teacher was not the most helpful teacher. He would constantly say “look back in your notes.” Well honestly, what if I can’t find it? He never really helped. Then my chemistry teacher was so bad to the point that I literally had to go to the principal’s office and talk to him about him not helping me. I would request to go to him for help and it was a whole bunch of things. I got my phone taken away in his class because I was texting my mother about how bad of a teacher he was. I also took it upon myself to leave class to “go to the bathroom” but instead I would go another teachers room and he would show me how to actually do the work. 

Moral of the story is that just being an interactive teacher and really engaging in your students lives (not too much but just enough like just asking them how they are and what’s going down) is key to a good relationship in the classroom. I’ve had plenty of teachers who I absolutely love having classes with. It was to the point that I loved learning from them, that I would change my schedule around to actually be in their classes that I knew they were teaching. In high school, I love my math teacher, my history teacher, and my English teacher (academically) and then I loved my band teacher and my chorus teacher, for the most part (she got bad towards the end of the year). My academic teachers were phenomenal. I loved taking classes from them all the time. I even switched in the middle of a year and had to get caught up on a book for English. They were so excellent at teaching, I would make sure that I could see them the next year in a class or around school. It’s just their personality that also helped make school so nice. Good attitudes lead to good relationships in the classroom which lead to good experiences with learning. It motivates students to want to learn and that’s what makes for a good school system. 

To improve students’ performance in the classroom, I think that school systems should have a school wide break, where like for example, some kids could go outside, some could just mingle, others could do crafts etc. I think that having a break throughout the school day would be beneficial so that we as students can have a break and still be able to make it through our days. It’s the same reason that pre-schoolers and kindergarteners get a nap time. It’s a mental break for them to relax and then go back into working again. I also think that schools should include more stress relieving things, mostly stress balls or little things that the students can hold in their hands to fidget with, without distracting someone else. I also have thought about teachers being evaluated on a weekly basis. Yes, I realize that principals and admin walk through the school walking into classrooms to check behavior and such from the kids and every once in a while checking the teachers aspects would be beneficial as well.

Chapter 9: First Impression

--Original published at Kirsten's Kreations

When it comes to thinking about school, it is weird to believe I have been in school for about 15 years. Over the years, I have encountered many educators. Some left me with pleasant experiences and some left me with not so pleasant experiences. A couple left me with a love hate relationship, like a certain band director I know.

Up until I graduated, the public school system I went to for elementary, middle, and high school didn’t seem to have any thing wrong with the system itself. They gave every student the same treatment as whole. However, the individual teachers would treat students different. The best examples come from high school. There is a band director who has a tendency to show who his favorites are in front of other students whether he realized it or not. Luckily, he never tells a student he didn’t like them but he talks about them behind their backs to other students. Unprofessional? Absolutely, but he is also a great teacher in the sense he has developed different ways that has made even a person who was awful at playing an instrument could become one of the best musicians in class.

Since starting college, my view has changed. I feel as though its more than just the teachers now. Its the politics involved in running the school that has become an issue.  In the recent years, schools have become more concerned in raising money than with the quality education they are giving the students. Colleges in particular are notorious for this kind of behavior.

The business department is currently getting hit with a problem I believe to be an issue for ridiculous reasons. A marketing teacher retired this past semester which left us with only one marketing professor to handle all the marketing students for advising and classes. When it came time to discussing hiring someone to take over the empty marketing we were told there was no money to replace him. This to me seems like an ironic situation because I keep getting hit with more expenses. So if I have to pay more than I did last year in tuition and other expenses, where is all the money going if we can’t afford one new teacher? This is the problem I have with the college system.

The people, teachers and more, have done nothing other than treat the students like they truly care about their future, which is how they should treat the students. I have year to have a teacher treat me any way other than with the care of my future I deserve. Certain teachers, like my tax teacher, show it more than others, like a poetry teacher, but that happens. I don’t expect a poetry teacher to want to put in as much effort on an accounting major that they do an English major. Some students do have their own issues with certain teachers but it seems to be more of a personality clash than the teachers genuinely treating them bad.

The fact that the school can’t afford to give a department a new teacher they deserve while making the students pay more than ever before is an issue that needs to be fixed. Many students like myself believe the new gym is an excuse for the school to spend more money than it is bringing in. The school should be coming up with ideas to change the school then get the student’s input so they can spend the money in places that would benefit the students in places they want rather than where the school things the students will be benefited.

Chapter 9 First Impression

--Original published at CatherinesCollegeBlog

I chose the first option for this impression post. I believe people are direct results of who they encounter in their lives, whether these interactions are brief and seemingly unimportant or prolonged and more significant. Our intelligence is affected by the environment we expose ourselves to as well, specifically regarding the educators responsible for developing this intelligence. Several of the teachers I have had throughout my school career have had lasting impacts on my personal and intellectual development. The first example that comes to mind is about a student teacher I had for an english class in high school. He taught a lesson about David Foster Wallace’s book This Is Water. There is also a video to go along with what is said in the book, but Wallace presented the same ideas in a commencement speech at a college graduation. Normal commencement speeches are overly optimistic and filled with cliches, but Wallace took a different approach and tried to reveal the truth to these college graduates. Essentially, he shared the not super exciting things about the adult life they were soon to begin, like going to the grocery store after a long day’s work when all you want to do is get home and sleep, or letting the annoyances of life build up so much so that you blame everyone else in the world for any inconvenience caused to you. Wallace wanted to adjust the mindset of these college graduates so they did not enter the adult world as self-centered people who believed the world was only happening to them. Instead of getting angry with the guy who cut in front of you while in traffic, Wallace suggested you should adjust your mindset and perspective because maybe it is that same guy who has a sick child in the car who he must rush to the hospital by cutting in front of as many cars as possible. The ideas mentioned in this book have stayed with me since I took that english class, and I have tried to follow his suggestions for living a life with more than one perspective. For me, intelligence is not just about memorizing countries on a map or how to spell the toughest vocabulary words. I believe intelligence is determined by how you handle interactions in the real world, especially when the situations are difficult to navigate and decide what is right or wrong. My student teacher had a significant impact on how I view the world, which I will always value more than being able to complete a complex math problem.

In order to improve students’ performance in the classroom, I think educators need to realize how much their opinion matters to many of their students. This is especially true when there is a close bond or quality relationship between a student and educator. If there is already a well established relationship there, students will want to make the educators proud of any assignment they turn in with their name on it, just as the educators will want to help these students succeed down the road. I was close with many of my teachers from high school, so when I would have to write an essay for english or complete a project for spanish class, I made sure it was up to my personal standards and that the teachers opinions would agree with mine since I valued their thoughts. It is much easier to accomplish this when class sizes are smaller since educators can dedicate more time and attention to each student. Perhaps there should be an initiative to promote smaller class sizes and a larger number of teachers in each school. This would also give students the chance for more exposure to different educators with various backgrounds and valuable knowledge to offer in their own ways. I think there should also be less of an emphasis placed on every student being tested on their ability to complete the same tasks. I love Einstein’s quote because it demonstrates this idea so clearly: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Although standards across the board are an easier way to evaluate students and their intelligence, we all develop intelligence differently. I think our strengths need to be appreciated more, instead of only focusing on the same few subjects for all students in the country. Overall I think intelligence needs to be viewed as more than memorization of factual information. Like my student teacher showed me, intelligence is about continuous growth in perspective.

Chap. 9 – Impression

--Original published at Kealey's PSY105 Blog

 

I think the idea that listening to classical music as a child will increase intelligence is largely a myth. While Mozart’s and Bach’s music may be soothing and easy to listen to, there is not substantial enough research to support that classical music is guaranteed to strengthen brain development. Listening to music as a baby definitely isn’t detrimental, but as the professor mentions in the article, for it to be thought of as an intellectual building block would be an illusion. I think people commonly associate classical music with prestige and intellectual maturity, which is why many think that making babies listen to it will lead them to reaching their own elevated rank in society one day. The environment that parents raise their children in is what really stimulates learning. If parents choose to play classical music while encouraging their kids to learn and be successful in school, they have established a intellectually nurturing environment for their children to develop in.

Chapter 9 First Impression Prompts – Intelligence

Hand writing on a notebook

Here are the two prompts for this week. Regardless of which prompt you choose, please use the tag “Intelligence.”

Option 1:

Many people consider intelligence to be largely determined by genetics, but there is substantial evidence that the environment and social processes play a large role as well. Since schools are a place where children try to determine how smart they really are, it is important for educators to understand the impacts of their subtle or not-so-subtle interactions with students. In your blog post, reflect on your interactions with educators throughout your school career, and discuss what changes to the school system could improve students’ performance in the classroom.

Option 2:

In 1998, the Governor of Georgia, Zell Miller, proposed spending $105,000 of the state’s budget to distribute a cassette or CD of classical music to the parents of each new child born in Georgia (see the NY Times article). Governor Miller was a staunch believer in the Mozart effect, a theory that listening to Mozart can increase intelligence. Discuss whether or not you think Governor Miller’s decision was a good one.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

Header image: CC by Flickr user Caitlinator

Spotlight Post #3 – Year Long Education

--Original published at Anneka's Blog

Growing up, my school year always started in September and went until mid-June. Our summer vacation lasted mid-June to August for a total of around two-and-a-half months off school. We typically went Monday through Friday with occasional breaks and Christmas and Spring Break. It was not until my pen pal from Indiana told me about her year long school system that I was introduced to an alternative schooling method. Schools around the country vary in the education systems. Tne long-running debate about better education for children is between year-round schooling versus the traditional nine month period.

PRO

Maine Taste Force’s report on year-round education describes the details of the system and its benefits for Maine’s students. Year-round schooling, despite its name, still has the same average 180 school days as a typical system. School occurs during all twelve months of the year with a cycle of around three months of education and one month of vacation. They can, in addition, have a multiple schedule system. Teachers and students are broken into different groups with each group’s education and vacation periods staggered a month following the previous group. One group is on break while the rest are in session.

Maine promotes year-round schooling as it can increase education potential. Other school reports have discovered positive implements of year-round education. Oxnard California year-round schools saw an increase in reading, writing and mathematics scores. A Virginia high school had an increase in state testing scores. Second it has increased attendance. Due to the an increase in vacations, students are less prone to call in sick days. Schools in Jefferson County, Colorado saw drop out rates decrease from five percent to two percent. It is believed that missing a smaller period is more beneficial versus a period in the traditional system. Third, it increases information retention. Students lose the information they have learned over the course of nine months during summer vacation in a traditional run school, and teachers have to review previous information for a significant period during the beginning of the school year. In year-round school, with only a month’s break, more time can be spent teaching new material thus increasing learning. Last, breaks give opportunities for students and families alike. Extra classes as a prerequisite classes, additional classes, or make up work can be scheduled.

Alberta, Canada is home to more than 20 schools that have year-round schedules. The Globe and Mail shared to the public Peel District School Board’s four-year study that followed students at Roberta Bondar Public School, a year-round school, with control traditional school. Results revealed similar results to the points Maine Task Force listed: greater retention and increased time on new material. Summer activities including camps, a counterpoint that people use against year-round schedules because of conflicts, are mainly affordable only by the higher socioeconomic classes. For parents who have difficulty finding activities or supervision for their children due to work, year-round schools offer easier options. Even the students support this alternative method. Thirteen year old Amandeep Pabla states that it eliminates spending time in front of a screen, eating junk food, and forgetting past year’s lessons. Sacha Malhi, a nine years-old enjoys having multiple breaks during the year versus one lengthy break.

CON

Boyd F. Jensen, a former Utah State Board of Education member, shares his opinion in favor of traditional schooling. Six elementary schools in Salt Lake City Utah (in 2011) were running on the year-round schooling system. There was no academic advantage for those in year-round as only half of the students met Utah government’s Adequate Yearly Progress in comparison to the 80% of traditional students. Funding the school year around is also is more costly. Some of the $128,000 increase goes towards air conditioning the schools in August. Jensen advices putting money towards group tutoring, a method that has been study supported. Paul von Hippel’s study shows that the alternative schooling had no effect on the student’s education. Teachers spent the same amount of time reviewing information at the start of the academic year regardless of method. Summer break gives time for students to work, attend tutoring, practice other skills, and spend time with family. These aspects are just as important. The applause for teaching goes to the teachers, parents, and students, not the calendar.

Matthew Lynch advocates for year-round schooling; however, in his article, he brings to light three concerns people have against it. He seconds the expensive aspect of year round schooling especially during the summer hours where air-condition is continually run. Bills tend to increase four to eight percent. Especially with multi-track schooling, this adds an additional three months of billing. Yearly additions to bills may be a financial struggle or an reason to increase tuition. The second point is the diminished time spent outside. Break during summer allows time for children to spend time outside, and this time away creates a healthier growth. The last argument is the scheduling conflicts in year-round schooling. The community is concerned about the ability to find childcare during the more frequent breaks and conflicts with camps that run multiple weeks or the majority of the summer time.

Conclusion

After reading about multiple aspects of year round education, I can see both sides of the argument. The main argument for year-round schooling is the claim that it will reduce education loss during the break. I personally think that either way, there is going to be learning loss between breaks. Students are taught to quickly memorize information, reproduce it on tests, and repeat with new information. The previous information are disregarded. With less memory pathways the information is lost eventually. Much of the information from my world cultures class senior year of high school is lost. The focus is geared towards grades for college, and if students do not enjoy the subject they may not have the desire to remember it. To pick a side, I currently lean towards traditional schooling, but I am not disregarding year-round schooling benefits. I have enjoyed spending my three months of vacation with family, friends, and at camps. Though I cannot disagree with the fact that many kids are now spending time indoors with technology.  I do think that year-round can help with memory.

I think a solution to this dilemma is a mixture of both traditional and year-round. Boyd Jensen’s mention of how it’s not the calendar that teaches children, got me thinking.  After almost completing my first year of college, having the small breaks between learning (a month vacation between fall and spring semester and several four through seven day breaks) helped with my mental health and motivation. I think expanding the school year frame slightly to maybe just two months of vacation and then put more breaks to divide the semester would be helpful. In addition, adding summer work due the following year could help with retention. I remember always having a summer work packet for my math classes to help with retention. I think memory loss can be reduced if we look into other methods not just a calendar change.

References

Jensen, B.F. (2011, January 30). Year-round schools don’t work, so districts should abandon the idea. Desert News. Retrieved from https://www.deseretnews.com

Lynch M. (2016, October 27). 3 reasons not to adopt year-round schooling. Retrieved from The Advocate website: http://www.theedadvocate.org/3-reasons-not-to-adopt-year-round-schooling/

Maine Task Force. (January 1994). Rethinking the school calendar. A report of maine’s task force on year around education. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED380905.pdf

Stechyson N. (2010, August 6). Students in year-round schools do better, study shows. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com

Spotlight Blog 3

--Original published at Emily Garvin's Psych Blog

There has been discussion surrounding the education system in this country. Specifically, regarding the traditional school year structure. Many people believe that schools should implement a year-round program, while others point out the potential disadvantages of year-round schooling. There were an overwhelming number of sources that supported the transition to year-round schooling.  “The Edvocate” is a website that promotes advocation for education has two separate articles published on their website. One of the articles lists three reasons why changing the school year calendar could benefit students, while the other discusses the negative impacts that changing the calendar would have. In addition to this useful website I also found evidence supporting year-round schooling through a case study that analyzed a school system in Alberta, Canada. Furthermore, an alternative article located on an education week blog was found that disproves the switch to year-round schooling.

The first article from http://www.theedadvocate.org discusses three main positive impacts implementing the year- round schooling plan would have on students and the education system. They include students will retain information they learned from the previous school year, it is an easy way to bridge the achievement gap, and students will actually enjoy school.  Students who participate in year-round school programs tend to have higher retention rates, “A study released in 2007 by The Ohio State University found that there are really no differences in learning between students who attend school year-round and those who are on a traditional schedule. However, the National Summer Learning Association often cites decades of research that shows that it can take anywhere from 8 to 13 weeks at the beginning of every school year for teachers to get their students back up to speed and ready to learn the new grade’s material.” Although there were no specific learning differences discovered, avoiding the “summer slide” allowed educators to speed up the learning process and ultimately their student’s retention rates. Secondly, with the elimination of summer slide minority students are not placed at a disadvantage anymore. Minority groups include students who speak English as a second language, students who are economically disadvantaged, and students who are disabled. Multiple studies have been conducted that prove these students lose 27% of their learning over a traditional summer vacation, which ca be avoided if a year- round education plan is implemented.  Lastly, students will enjoy school more. It is thought that students and teachers will have a closer relationship and students will be more attached and comfortable to the environment of school. A 20 year investigation was conducted by researchers from Jons Hopkins University that analyzed a year-round school system in Canada. It was found that the students in this low-income area school system had a higher retention rate and overall enjoyed their school experience more than children who attended traditional school.

The counter argument provided by http://www.theedadvocate.org also presents three main points, but this time supports traditional schooling instead of implementing year-round schooling. The three points listed include switching to a year-round school calendar could end up being more expensive, children will not have enough down time, and scheduling issues could potentially occur. The summer months are often very hot which results in a lot of energy consumption, operating schools in these months means that air conditioning must be turned on resulting in immense bills for the school system. Many people are also concerned that children will not have enough down time, children will become less active and not have the opportunity to get outside and “just be a kid”. However, this argument is flawed because nowadays many children tend to sty inside and are glued to their technological devices preventing them from exploring the outdoors. Lastly, scheduling conflicts may occur if parents of children have children in multiple grade levels. Typically, year-round school programs are implemented in early childhood education like elementary schools. This could cause many issues for parents who need to delegate time to all of their children on different schedules. The article points out that all of the arguments against year-round school seem like a stretch and most people are more afraid of change than have actual concern. An article from an education week blog points out similar concerns regarding the implementation of a year-round schooling program. This article just reinforces the importance of these concerns and that they are common concerns that must be taken into consideration.

Personally, I can see the benefits and pitfalls of both school schedules. When a decision is made to switch to year-round schooling a lot of factors are taken into consideration and the decision is ultimately always situational. In my opinion, it may be in the best interest for low income areas to adopt the year-round school plan because there are multiple case studies that showcase proven benefits to students, families, and the community. However, I don’t think that the year- round school plan must be adopted to all areas because of potential logistical complications like scheduling.

References:

http://www.theedadvocate.org/top-3-reasons-the-us-should-switch-to-year-round-schooling/

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/students-in-year-round-schools-do-better-study-shows/article570683/

http://www.theedadvocate.org/3-reasons-not-to-adopt-year-round-schooling/

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/education_futures/2014/07/_year-round_schooling_3_common_arguments_against_it.html

Spotlight Blog #3

--Original published at Rachel's Blog

A big conflict in today’s society is the issue of whether or not school should be year round.  Some people find that it is very beneficial for school to be year round, and some people think that it is a disadvantage for students to attend school year round.

The first article, “Research Spotlight on Year- Round Education” talks about how many schools in the United States still go by a 10- month calendar, giving two months off for the summer.  Some people think that this system is “outdated” and that schooling should be moved to year- round.  The author talks about different styles of schooling, mentioning that the most popular is the 45-15 plan.  This means that students will attend school for 45 days, and then have 15 days off. This includes the holidays which schools would give breaks for.  The author also mentions two other plans which would be the 60-20 and the 90-30.  If schooling were to be changed to this, the most important part would be how the schools implemented it.  This brings up the idea of will schools follow the single track schedule, where all students get the same break, or will they follow the multi-track schedule, where students are broken into groups, and these groups go to school at different times and they have different vacation times.  A benefit of the multi-track is that the schools can then enroll more students since not everyone is attending school at once.  The author then mentions a few reasons why people argue for year round education, which include students forgetting a lot of information during summer break, so with year round schooling, this will help students to retain more information.  Also, the use of the school will be more efficient because instead of the building being empty for two months, it will still be in use all year.  The final reason is that during the school year, teachers can help the students with any learning problems they may encounter.

Another article that supports year round schooling is written by Matthew Lynch, where he explores three main reasons for switching the schooling system.  He begins by explaining that only about 10% of United States schools use the year round schooling system, and he expresses that it is time to switch to this so that students in the United States are not falling behind other countries academically.  He justifies this claim with three different reasons to support this.  The first reason is that students will actually remember what they learn in class.  The author mentions that if students are in school year round, then students will not “unlearn” information that took hard work and a lot of time to learn.  He then talks about a study that was performed in 2007 by Ohio State University.  The findings for this study are that there is no differences in the way students learn if they are in school year round or on a traditional schedule.  Also, research from the National Summer Learning Association shows that it can take from 8-13 weeks at the beginning of the school year for teachers to get students back to the pace of learning new information.  The second reason is that students who speak English as a second language, economically disadvantaged, and students with disabilities are more affected by the summer break.  This is because they are not “on task” and they are not doing a lot of things academically at home.  Also, the drop out rates for these students are a lot less when in school year round because they have less time to get used to being away from school, and they have less time to work.  He explains that this could be an advantage because high school graduates on average earn $11,000 more per year than someone with a GED, so not working over the summer if it was year round schooling would be beneficial in the long run.  Lastly, the author states that students will like school.  He explains this by saying that kids will start to have closer relationships with their teachers since they will be seeing them more often.  Also, students will still feel like they are in school mode because they are not taking a long time off, and do not have to get back into the schedule of things.  Also, from a research study, it showed that students in year round schools have more self- confidence, have fewer insecurities, and have more positive feelings towards school.

Oppositely, the article, “Should School be Year Round?” by Bailee Flanagan, begins by showing the reader two pi charts; one of traditional school schedule, and the other is of a year round schedule.  This chart is a nice way to visualize the two possibilities of the school calendars.  The author immediately begins by mentioning that students do not like to have their summers taken away from them, and says that while school in the summer would let students be able to learn more, there are some negative effects to this.  The first being a decrease in spending time with family, there are no breaks for students and teachers, and the lack of real life experiences with their friends.  The first negative effect is that students and teachers do not get a break.  This is important to have because it allows for students to just relax and recharge before having to think about school again.  This is beneficial because if students do not have a mental break, then they can become overwhelmed, which can then lead to them not performing well academically.  If students do not have a break, then they will not be prepared to learn, and will constantly look bored.  Students tend to lose their motivation when they do not have breaks, but it could be motivating to them when they know that a break is coming up in the near future.  The second negative effect is that students will not be able to spend as much time with their families.  The author says having quality family time is important for the “emotional and developmental well being of a child.”  When kids are in school all year around, it is hard to plan family vacations, and therefore, kids do not get to spend as much time with their families.  A final negative experience is that students do not get to experience real life situations with their friends.  A few examples of this is summer camps or jobs.  If kids are in school during the summer, then they are unable to attend summer camps and make new friends, or they are unable to get a job to have a little bit of extra money for themselves.

Another article that has a similar stance is called, “From Our Archives: Year Round School Bad Idea for Students.”  Immediately the author expresses that he thinks that this is a bad idea, and thinks that it will impact students in a negative way.  The author brings up many important arguements for why this would not be a positive thing to do.  The first is that many students would get tired of going to school, therefore, many kids would drop out.  Students look forward to the summer as a time to relax and take a break from school work, and they also use it as a bit of motivation to finish out the year.  The second example is that students like to enjoy the summer, and they do so by playing sports, going to camps, and spending time with friends and family.  If there was school during the summer, then it would stop them from spending this time with their family, and this is something most kids look forward to.  A final part is that some students use the summer as a way to earn some money by getting a part time job, which could help them start to save for college.  Some students feel it is too overwhelming to get a job during the school year, which is why they wait until the summer.  If they have classes during the summer, they will not not be able to work, and therefore will not be able to make a small earning.

Overall, after reading the articles, I felt like the authors did a nice job in the way they presented their arguments, and how they had evidence to support their claims.  According to the articles above, I think that most kids would probably benefit from school all year around.  It seems as if the summer break is not something as beneficial to students because most kids are not learning anything new over the break.  Also, it is harder for students to retain information that was previously learned, which translates to the next school year because it is even harder for students to get right back on track after coming back from a long break.  Also, with the way this would be set up, it still allows for students to have a mental break and relax from school work.

http://www.nea.org/tools/17057.htm

http://www.theedadvocate.org/top-3-reasons-the-us-should-switch-to-year-round-schooling/

https://www.learningliftoff.com/year-round-school/

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/opinion/mailbag/from-our-archives-year-round-school-bad-idea-for-students/article_356f1b3a-baa2-11de-ade3-001cc4c03286.html

Spotlight 3

--Original published at CurtisCollegeBlog

I chose to pick apart the topic of year-rounding schooling. I originally thought that summer break is almost like a necessity for kids. As a public-school graduate and a current college student, I am used to a large summer break, with a winter break that is a lot smaller. This was just the normal for me, as year-round schooling is the normal for others. I thought about this a little more though. A lot of my summers included sitting around the house doing nothing. Talking to people was rare, I didn’t always go on vacation, so my summer seemed to go by the wayside. Thinking back a year-round education might have been better for me in terms of enjoyment and learning as well. Every year coming back from summer break, I seemed to struggle retaining the old information from the past year.

Enough about me, we need the cold hard facts to prove if year-round education is better for learning outcomes and information retention. Early on, summer was given off due to America being an agricultural society, the kids helped on the farm a lot. As the idea of this grew it was said to have been an economic necessity to let the kids have time off and be themselves away from school. Traditional schooling allows children to have this time off and be with their families, year-round schooling doesn’t offer this same option as there will be less family time. Scheduling something like a vacation could be hard inside of a smaller time frame rather than the three months allotted for summer break. Another problem with year-round schooling is that it’s generally harder to find child care such as a babysitter or a nanny. Summer is almost like the light at the end of the long tunnel called school, it’s something that the kids look forward to. Also, in the summer you have the opportunities for learning that aren’t offered in school. Summer vacations give way to cultural and artistic experiences.

The big problem that year-round schooling is supposed to solve is the concept of the “summer slide”. This is when students forget or unlearn things when they are given too much time off from school.  The National Summer Learning Association claims this is still true, however an Ohio State study showed there’s no real difference in learning between the two types of schooling. While the average student learns around the same, the big improvement is shown in at-risk and disadvantaged students. These students were shown to lose around 27 % more of the knowledge over summer rather than the average student. Year-round learning allows them to keep their minds focused on school more rather than not in the off-months. This also includes students who are learning in an environment that adheres to their second language. They will be around their second language often, allowing them to develop the linguistics better. In traditional school, the summer is considered too long, because there is no way to totally stimulate a child for that full length of time; children get very bored. It’s said the teachers and students will bond more frequently and have deeper bonds as well.

I’m not totally sold on instituting year-round schooling because of the claim that it’s better. However, most of the evidence supporting traditional schooling didn’t involve anything saying how students perform better in school. All of the support for traditional school seemed to not show anything in terms of actually learning, it was more about freedom for children. Year-round schooling showed learning improvements for disadvantaged kids, so there is an advantage for those kids to study this way. I personally, still lean toward the traditional way of schooling.

Works Cited

10, et al. “Top 3 Reasons the US Should Switch to Year-Round Schooling.” The Edvocate, 13 Aug. 2016, http://www.theedadvocate.org/top-3-reasons-the-us-should-switch-to-year-round-schooling/.

Kalil, Kimberly Demucha. “The Pros and Cons of Year-Round School.” Care.com, Care.com, 18 July 2017, http://www.care.com/c/stories/3283/the-pros-and-cons-of-year-round-school/.

Lynch, Ed.D. Matthew. “Year-Round Schooling: How It Affects Students.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Mar. 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/year-round-schooling-how_b_4622211.html.

“Reasons Why Year Round School Is A Good Idea-Screenflex.” Screenflex Portable Room Dividers, 21 Apr. 2017, http://www.screenflex.com/reasons-why-year-round-school-is-a-good-idea/.

Weller, Chris. “Year-Round School Doesn’t Solve the 2 Big Problems with Summer Vacation.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 5 Sept. 2016, http://www.businessinsider.com/year-round-school-normal-school-2016-8.

 

Spotlight Blog #3

--Original published at Miguel's College Blog

Year-round Education

Year-round education has been a topic of conversation with parents, teachers, and students alike. What are the benefits and disadvantages of having, or not having year-round education? What is year-round education?

Year-round education is when a school’s education schedule is a couple weeks of teaching material, followed with a couple weeks off throughout the entire year. A common year-round schedule is a 45-15 plan, where teaching is done for 45 days, then three weeks off for the student. The traditional school schedule is laid out to leave three months of space in the summer for students to have a break. Interestingly enough, the year-round schedule has the same 180 days of school as the traditional schedule.

What are the benefits of having a year-round schedule?

Supporters of the year-round schedule say that having school throughout the entire year stops the dreaded “brain drain” of summer, forgetting a large amount of knowledge and skills acquired during the traditional schedule school year. After a long summer break, teachers spend the first couple of weeks having to re-acclimate students to learning and trying to find out what information students have remembered before starting new material. This could take away extra time from learning new material.

Another benefit of having a year-round schedule is that students are kept occupied throughout the entire year. Traditional school schedule allows for the summer break to be a time where students are offered a break and to enjoy the outside weather, however, as social media and technology dependency increases, more students are using their free time inside on devices. The summer break has turned into an empty time for students to reduce their learning to a minimum. Having a year-round schedule would keep students occupied and mentally stimulated throughout the year, while still offering needed breaks  for recovery.

What are the disadvantages of having a year-round schedule?

Opponents of having a year-round schedule say that having a year-round schedule could be more expensive as facilities are constantly running throughout the year (a small sacrifice for fostering more education in the summer). Also, having a year-round schedule may rule out the opportunity for faculty to offer summer remediation classes for students who may need it or are lagging behind academically. Having classes held throughout the year may be too fast for some students and may not have the opportunity during the summer to catch up.

Another disadvantage may be that parents are likely to feel the change the most in year-round schedules. Parents who have children in different schools on different schedules are sure to run into problems for transportation, vacations, and extracurricular activities.

Conclusion:

I think having year-round schooling would be a great change for the education system, especially in public school settings and lower income areas because of the benefits for the students. From experience, many summer breaks before I was able to have a job was spent inside, not learning anything new, and I paid the price when school started up again because a tough learning curve would arise trying to review everything. Even when I worked in high school, I was still inside and not being mentally stimulated. Where I grew up, many students relied on the school cafeteria for their daily meals. Over 2/3 of the students at my high school qualified for free and reduced lunch. When the school year ended, there was 3 months of meals that were not guaranteed. Having a year-round schedule gives students the opportunity to have meals throughout the entire year and to be occupied/mentally stimulated throughout the entire year.

Sources For:

Lynch, M. (2016, August 13). Top 3 Reasons the US Should Switch to Year-Round Schooling. Retrieved May 1, 2018, from http://www.theedadvocate.org/top-3-reasons-the-us-should-switch-to-year-round-schooling/

Chen, G. (2018, April 06). Year Round vs. Traditional Schedules in Public Schools. Retrieved May 1, 2018, from https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/year-round-vs-traditional-schedule-public-schools

Sources Against:

Lynch, M. (2016, October 27). 3 Reasons Not to Adopt Year-Round Schooling. Retrieved May 1, 2018, from http://www.theedadvocate.org/3-reasons-not-to-adopt-year-round-schooling/

Weller, C. (2017, June 05). Year-round school is booming – but its benefits are over-hyped. Retrieved May 1, 2018, from http://www.businessinsider.com/year-round-school-summer-vacation-2017-6